By Carson Reeher

Special to The Farmville Herald

Longwood University has donated $4,000 to the Farmville Downtown Partnership’s (FDP) inaugural SOUP event. 

The money will be used for the grant that will be given to the winning proposals. Currently, with Longwood’s donation, the event has $5,000 in grant money available for the winners. 

Downtown Partnership Program Manager John Burton said Longwood heard about the event and “wanted to help contribute to make a bigger impact.” 

“We think that it’s going to help expand the scope of the event. The whole point is to increase community involvement and improve the community.”

Now that the grant has increased, Burton says that FDP hopes to choose multiple winners to share the grant and enact their proposals. 

The SOUP project is a call for proposed projects to improve downtown Farmville. According to a press release from the FDP, submissions can be projects related to art, urban agriculture, social entrepreneurship, education, technology and more.

The deadline for submissions is March 21.

A minimum of four finalists will be asked to present their proposals during the April 1 SOUP event. A small committee formed of community members will choose these finalists. According to the release, “Entries will be judged based on the creativity of the idea, the degree to which the proposal will benefit downtown Farmville and the feasibility of its budget.”

During the event, which will be held at 6 p.m. at the Longwood Center for the Visual Arts at the corner of Main and Third streets, the community will have a chance to ask questions about the proposals, eat soup and vote on the winning proposal. Guests are asked to provide a $5 donation as entry to the event. Tickets will be sold at the event and pre-sold prior to the event.

In addition to Longwood’s monetary donation, the Longwood Center for the Visual Arts has also donated its time to help prepare the location for the SOUP event. Aramark has agreed to donate its catering services.

For more information about Farmville Downtown SOUP, visit www.farmvilledowntown.com/soup, call (434) 392-3060 or email soup@farmvilledowntown.com.